


Just you wait and see

by Royal_Ermine



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Sad Ending, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 15:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20428199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royal_Ermine/pseuds/Royal_Ermine
Summary: In an Alternative Universe where Steve returned the infinity stones and settled down with Bucky, Young Avengers Billy and Teddy visit the old couple in their retirement in Wakanda, now that Bucky's health and memory are steadily failing.





	Just you wait and see

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eve1978](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eve1978/gifts).

“Sorry we’re late.”

On hearing Teddy’s voice, Steve turned around from the kitchen sink a little too quickly. Both boys noticed the elderly avenger wince in pain.

“You okay?” asked Billy.

Steve swatted the concern away with his hand, although the effect was somewhat spoiled since he was still holding on to the dish towel. “I’m fine”, he said “It’s just the lumbago.”

“Most folks these days use dishwashers, y’know.”

“I AM the dishwasher”, Steve replied, patting at his sunken chest. “Had plenty of practice in my time. Bucky was always the better cook out of the two of us, and his baking was to die for, so it was only fair that I did the washing up after. We talked about opening a bakery in England when we retired, but he said he wouldn’t enjoy baking half as much if he was doing it for a living.” Steve’s dreamy look of reminiscence widened into a proud smile. “I think his finest moment was baking our Wedding Cake. A thing of beauty that was…but that seems like such a long time ago.”

Teddy walked over and placed a big gentle arm on Steve’s shoulder. He could always be relied upon to do what he felt was best. Billy figured that was one of the main reasons he and Teddy were so compatible. He was good with words, and his boyfriend was good with feelings. He watched and waited as Steve’s sorrow dissipated under Teddy’s gentle touch, before hefting a shopping bag onto the counter top. “Well I think you’ll appreciate what we brought for you today”, he said.

“Oh, you guys. You really shouldn’t bring anything.”

“Nonsense, we love our weekly visits and it’s only right for guests to bring a few gifts.”

Billy didn’t mention that the young avengers had all chipped together for the few bits and pieces that he and Teddy brought them. He suspected Steve already knew; his mind was as sharp as ever after all. The team had decided that Billy and Teddy, as a same-sex couple, would be the most appropriate people to visit, and the boys had been happy enough to be volunteered. After all, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes had been their idols when they were growing up; pioneers in so many ways, and heroes to be loved and respected, especially in their twilight years.

As Billy stowed the frozen dinners away, Teddy returned to the counter to carefully retrieve a bouquet of sunflowers from one of the shopping bags. “Here you go”, he said simply, presenting them to Steve.

“Oh my, they’re beautiful”, said Steve “Bucky is going to love them. Why don’t I put them in water?”

“Hand them over”, smiled Billy. He already had the scissors and a vase ready.

“You two”, chuckled Steve. “You anticipate each other’s every move. You remind me of me n’ the old man in our younger days.”

“And who are you calling an old man?”

Steve whipped around, wincing from the pain once more.

“Buck. What are you doing up and about? You should be taking it easy.”

“Awww, to heck with your nursemaidin’ and your mollycoddlin’, Rogers”, mumbled Bucky as he shuffled into the kitchen, leaning heavily on his walking stick. Whilst Steve walked with a slightly stooped gait on account of the lumbago, Bucky was practically bent double with it. When Billy and Teddy first starting visiting, Bucky had used a Zimmer frame on wheels to get about, but that required two arms, and his doctors had decided that even their ultra-light Wakandan prosthetic was becoming more of a burden than it was worth. Besides, Bucky had taken a few tumbles when the Zimmer’s wheels had moved faster than he had.

“How are you getting about now, Mr. Barnes?” asked Billy.

“Fine, just fine”, Bucky replied. “A stick’s far better for me, anyway. I can use it to poke THIS old man with.” He raised his eyes to waggle the tip of it in Steve’s general direction. It was then that he saw the boys.

“Who are you?” he demanded. “You’re not my doctors.”

“Now, Bucky, you already know who these two young men are, don’t you?”, prompted Steve.

Bucky considered it for a moment. His rheumy eyes narrowed as he tried to recall.

“Billy and Teddy?” Steve prompted, in a lower voice close to Bucky’s ear.

“Billy and Teddy!” greeted Bucky. “How lovely to see you boys again. Why, haven’t you grown! Billy’s got the same hair as yours, hasn’t he Stevie?” Bucky blushed shyly. “I always was a sucker for blonds”, he concluded, with a chuckle.

Billy didn’t try to correct the mix-up. Steve had told them both how being corrected by other people upset him. After Steve’s prompt, Bucky had a 50/50 chance of matching a face to a name, and this time he’d guessed wrongly. Bucky had known his memory was failing; he’d known it for a long time, even before he was diagnosed. The Wakandan specialists confirmed what he’d already figured out - that the years of HYDRA brainwashing had accelerated his vascular dementia - but that knowledge didn’t bring them any closer to a cure, or him any closer to a way to avoid embarrassing himself in front of his husband when people and places faded from his short-term memory. 

“Teddy’s the blond one, Buck”, whispered Steve

Bucky nodded. “Yes, that’s what I said”, he continued, a slightly unsteady smile spreading across his face. “Teddy’s got your hair, Stevie…and your build. What a handsome boy.” He appraised the pair of them approvingly. “I do hope you two are courting?”

“We are, Mr. Barnes. As a matter of fact, we’re engaged to be married.” Billy grasped Teddy’s hand by way of demonstration, prompting a wide smile from his fiancé. “I wish you’d do that to me more often”, Teddy purred just within Billy’s earshot.

“Well, don't you two look the very picture of the happy couple. We should have a party and celebrate!”

“That’s what they’re here for”, said Steve. “And see, they brought us flowers too.”

Bucky’s face lit up when Steve showed him the vase of flowers on the countertop. “Sunflowers! They’re my favorite. Such a cheery flower. Do you still remember Peg’s garden, Stevie?”

Steve smiled and nodded. Several months ago, when he was more lucid, Bucky had regaled the boys with the tale of him and Steve visiting Peggy’s parent’s home on the south coast of England. It was a delightful little thatched cottage with a splendid view of the white chalk cliffs as they rose proud and magnificent from the dark blue waves of the English Channel.

For the shortest time, Bucky had felt a pang of jealousy over Peggy, but he needn’t have worried. Peggy could see the two of them were more suited to each other than Steve ever was to her, and her subtle hints had prompted the candid admission from Steve that led to the two soldiers becoming boyfriends for the first time. Peggy’s parents had gone up to London for the weekend, and she’d invited the boys to come with her to enjoy some quality time together in a peaceful spot, far away from the prying eyes of a press greedy for pictures of Captain America.

Of course, Peggy’s revelation that there was a lovely brass double bed waiting for them when they got there had been more than a minor incentive for them making the trip, but Steve and Bucky found that they felt equally happy lounging about together on a hammock in the garden, as Peggy tended to her pride and joy, a row of tall sunflowers propped up against the garden wall. In the warm sunshine, the boys swung together lazily in each other’s arms as Peggy would sing the chorus of the popular Vera Lynn song whose words gave the people of England hope of a sunny future beyond the darkness of that time:

_“There’ll be bluebirds over, the white cliffs of Dover_

_tomorrow, Just you wait and see.”_

“When this war’s over, we’ll be together forever, Buck. Just you wait and see”, Steve had promised.

Decades later, when Steve had been tasked with returning the infinity stones after the final defeat of Thanos, he’d claimed his reward and made good on his promise to Bucky. A return to those simpler times he’d lost after the war was won, not with Peggy, but with Bucky by his side. Together, they’d bought the little cottage on the coast from Peggy after she’d gone to America to work for SHIELD, and - through the dropping of a few gentle hints to her here and there – they’d helped her to realise a future that avoided the twin dangers of HYDRA and Thanos altogether. A future where Wakanda retained its awesome power, but felt more able to share it with the more enlightened world they’d helped create.

When Bucky’s mental condition began to worsen, Steve hadn’t been too proud to ask the Wakandans for their help, and he’d gladly accepted their offer to stay within the palace compound where they could monitor his husband’s condition as he deteriorated. With favorable same-sex marriage laws in that country, and sensing time was getting short, Bucky had finally gotten around to proposing to Steve soon afterwards, and the whole Wakandan Royal Family had turned out to wish them well…and to sample Bucky’s incredible wedding cake.

-*-

“So, what can we get you to drink?” Bucky asked his young guests.

“It’s okay, I’ll fix it”, said Steve, just a little too quickly.

“I’ll fix it, I’ll fix it”, parroted Bucky. “You think I’m incapable or something, Rogers?”

“No, no”, soothed Steve. “I just think you ought to put some music on for us is all”

“Oh.”

As Steve had hoped, this prompt disarmed Bucky’s sense of impotence. Slowly he turned out of the kitchen and headed back towards the record player by his chair in the living room.

“Beers?” asked Teddy.

“Beers”, Steve confirmed with a smile.

“How’s he doing?” asked Billy, as Teddy headed over to the fridge.

“Well, y’know”, shrugged Steve.

“No, how’s he REALLY doing?” Billy pressed him.

Steve sighed. “He had a check-up last Tuesday. The docs say his memory loss is speeding up now. It won’t be long before he starts forgetting who I am. And when that happens, I’m not sure how I’m gonna cope.”

Billy nodded.

“I…I just don’t think I can lose my best buddy again”, blurted Steve, an anguished sob escaping him.

Billy laid his hand on Steve’s forearm, and Teddy came over to enfold them all in a monster hug, in that charming way of his.

By the time the three of them got back into the living room with a tray full of cold beers, the record was spinning, but Bucky was already nodding off.

As the youngsters hovered by the door, Steve placed a bottle on the table by Bucky’s side.

“Here’s your beer, Buck”, he said gently.

“Thanks”, mumbled Bucky, half asleep. “Y’know…you’re my best guy, that’s what you are. My best guy. My Stevie.”

Tears formed in Steve’s eyes as he smiled down at his husband.

Billy sought out Teddy’s hand once more. Teddy squeezed it back.

“I love you”, Bucky continued, his speech slurred with sleep but clear enough for them to hear. “You wanna come join me in this hammock, Stevie? There's plenty of room for two, and I got heaps of hugs n' kisses for ya.”

As the record played on, Bucky joined in the chorus, his voice drifting in and out like the waves surging around those famous white cliffs, while his precious memories steadily receded away from him like the tide; fading far beyond the horizon.

_“There’ll be bluebirds over, the white cliffs of Dover”_

_tomorrow, Just you wait and see.”_


End file.
